Computer devices with memory systems, such as desktop computers, laptop computers, notebook computers, PDAs, and other devices are becoming increasingly more common. As computer systems develop, thereby performing tasks faster and providing information more quickly, the desire to make their corresponding memory systems faster and more reliable increases as well.
FIG. 1 illustrates a method 100 for retrieving data from an hard drive device (HDD) for a host device at power-on in accordance with the prior art. Method 100 begins with start step 105. Next, power is provided to both the hard drive and host at step 110. After power-on, both the hard drive and the host undergo initialization procedures associated with start up 120.
At step 130, the hard drive informs the host device that the hard drive is in a ready state and available to receive commands. Upon receiving the hard drive ready signal, the host device may request data from the drive at step 140. Typically, the host device first requests a boot sector to determine initialization procedures and data locations on the drive media. The host drive may then determine the type of memory system the hard drive is configured as, such as a FAT system. Next, the host device may request the FAT system files. From the FAT system files, the host device may request data clusters associated with start-up and initialization data. For each request, the host sends a data request as illustrated in step 140. The hard drive processes the request at step 150. Processing the request may include spinning up the drive, loading the heads, seeking to the target track, reading the requested information, unloading the heads, and spinning down. The response is then sent from the hard drive to the host device in step 160. The hard drive determines if more requests are received or queued at step 170. If more requests are to be processed, operation of method 100 continues to step 140. If no further requests are to be immediately performed, operation of method 100 ends at step 175. Thus, for each request for data by the host device, the hard drive seeks to the location of the data, reads the data from the media into cache, and provides the data to the host device. The typical hard drive data access process as illustrated in FIG. 1 requires considerable amounts of time to retrieve data at power-on, thereby generating an undesirable delay between receiving a data request from the host device and providing the requested data to the host device.
Retrieving information from a hard drive that is in a standby state also requires considerable time and power. FIG. 2 illustrates a method 200 for performing a data write to the hard drive media in accordance with the prior art. Method 200 begins with start step 205. Next, the hard drive media is brought to a spinning state at step 210. Once spinning, a hard drive will load the read/write heads at step 220 and then acquire servo tracking at step 230. Next, optionally, the hard drive may perform servo and/or media related calibrations at step 240 to ensure the drive is working properly. Then, system related data may be read at step 250. System related data may include system cylinder information or other information regarding the location address information of data. Since the hard drive may already have immediate access to the system related data from previous read operations, step 250 is optional. The final system read may include reading data from one or more of the system cylinders. Once the final system read is performed, the drive is ready to perform a user data read or write operation at step 260. Operation of method 200 then ends at step 265. As illustrated in the prior art method of FIG. 2, the standard data access method while a hard drive is in an idle state consumes valuable power and time. This can be particularly costly in power sensitive devices, or in situations where power or time is to be conserved.
What is needed is a hard drive that operates using better data accessing methods for overcoming the disadvantages of the prior art.